Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Rivers West Gear

Anyone using there stuff? What is your opinion of it?

Heavy and very hot; expensive and picks up burrs easily. Great if you do alot of sitting in the cold.

Wont get wet from the outside but will get soaked from the inside...

Thanks. Doesn't sound like its for me.

I have one of their jackets. If your hunting from a stand or a blind it would be great, but if your active they just don't breath well enough IMHO. About 4 or 5 years ago I shot a muley doe in late November. It was 15 below with a decent breeze and I had to drag her about half a mile, through 4" of snow, and through a steep ass draw. I was in decent shape then and I was soaked by the time I got to the truck. It took a day and a half for the jacket to dry out. It does block the wind exceptionally well though.

I've a River's West rainpants. I like it. No it doesn't "breathe" but I've found THAT putative function is mostly hype anyway unless one is in a blind/stand/ not moving around much. Once the external moisture/exercise stops, you can eventually wear the "breathable" stuff dry, and it will keep you dry with it's "breathability" in a non-excercise situation. Sometimes. Not so the impermeable stuff. Both provide some warmth - kinda like a wet suit. The "breathable" stuff (yes, I own a bunch of both kinds) doesn't keep up with the moisture when working even moderately, and tends to pass moisture from the outside if (1) you don't keep the outer fabric "waterproofed", and (2) if you are in heavy wind or passing thru thick vegetation or anything is touching the fabric- like a saddle or wet horse-hide. Even if the outer fabric is so "waterproofed", after about a day and a half of such "xtreme" use, it leaks.....

Youse is gonna get wet..... whatever.... I've largely gone back to real waterproof gear - not the so-called breathable stuff. Less work and far cheaper - um - less expensive. Works about as well.

My Rivers West pants does not have lower-leg zippers. Mistake. Get the zipper models, whatever you decide on. Taking your boots off several times a day to put on or take off the rainpants is a PITA.

I've been having good luck with Grundens weather boss pants.

http://www.fishermansheadquarters.com/grundens_weather_boss.htm

Fishing in S.E AK this early summer and got caught canoeing a lake in a DOWNPOUR 4 hours of rain and I was dry as a bone underneath. Have done some moderate hiking in them and they are great.

Hot and will get wet from the inside out. Junk.

If I was ever in a bind somewhere remote in Alaska, the Rivers West gear would NOT be on my list, or any list for that matter. Had one of their jackets and quickly discarded it after one hunt.

Wow sounds like they are junk! I have never seen any of their gear or even heard of them. Last week a guy at the range was talking about them. I looked it up, nothing that looked like I had to have it. Just wanted to get opinions from folks that have. Thanks for the replies.

The other issue I have heard a lot about. Is it takes forever to dry out.

I "HAD" a pair of their Quiet hunting pants a couple of years back. The soft, fuzzy exterior fabric picked-up every small stick, spiney-burr and small rock on the country-side.

Never again,

Jim

It is like wearing a Hefty trash bag.

I've yet to find the "perfect" raingear. Or even much that lives up to it's "breathability" hype. All kinds work better in some situations than in others.

One other thing to consider is the underlayments.

I have a couple pairs of thin nylon "river-runner" pants that I often wear hunting. I often don't even wear bottom raingear with these things when hiking/backpacking in wet. They are cool in hot, and do OK in cool/wet, and dry very quickly when the wet stops. While hiking, I'm working hard enough that I usually stay warm (with topside raingear on). When I stop, or the rain does, those nylon bottoms dry very quickly, but while wet, act much like wet-suit material. Wind or fresh vegetation brushing against them is at least momentarily cold. On longer stops, I might change out of them, or don a pair of fleece or breathable raingear over them - whatever to stay warm until they dry from body heat or hung in the wind - it doesn't take very long.

I've not used silk underlayments- but it sounds like it works much like the nylon- maybe better, but more expensive.

The Rivers West pants worked well over the light nylon (which ain't worth a crap in nettles or Devil's Club!) on two different hunts in wet when I started to get a little chilled. I don't mind warm wet much (I've NEVER found a way to ALWAYS stay dry when actively hunting/hiking), but cold wet really sucks!

And as I previously posted, I've found "breathable" raingear to not live up to it's hype, and to be quite expensive to boot. Yes, I use it in some circumstances, and still buy it, but if I want to stay dry from the outside, especially on a multi-day hunt it's going to be some sort of impervious stuff!

You won't find commercial fishermen using "breathable" gear, nor Yuppies using anything but. We working hunters and hikers in semi-severe situations are somewhere in between. We are often going from bust-ass to dead still in weather from foggy to intermittant showers, to downpours with wind. We don't have the option of going into a heated fishing boat cabin to take off our raingear (BTDT), or "holding up" under shelter, camping early, or reducing our activity level to where the breathable stuff can handle the moisture- assuming the outer layer "waterproofing" doesn't give up the goast a few days into the hunt (You can carry extra Scotch-Guard or some such for this near eventuality).

Well, I suppose we do have the mentioned options the Yuppies employ - but where's the fun in that????

We ain't got nothing that works perfectly all the time.

Dammit. So buy some of everything and try to match the hatch.

Youse is gonna get wet!